Into the Camera Glass
by BuringBright222
Summary: Well, this story will start kind of weird, but Nightwing whumpage later, don't worry. Anyway, the YJ team is given and undercover mission and a surprising villain turns up... Rated for some descriptive scenes Used to be called Under Discussion.
1. Nightmares

**Alright! Starting my next story! This one, I would really recommend reading UYFA first… I'm sure you could figure it out without reading it though. Have fun! :P**

**I do not, not, own DC, YJ, or anything in this world that is interesting. **

**I do own a dog though… she rocks!**

**Anyway, thanks to everyone who has been following/reading/reviewing me! Have some internet cookies! (Alfred made them) (o,o) panda….**

Nightwing balanced in a handstand on one of the parallel bars easily. He then slowly raised his left arm until it was flat against his side. He felt the tug of his recovering shoulder, but knew this was the only way to keep his body in tip-top shape.

"Nightwing, how long are you going to just… balance there?" Nightwing jerk his head to see Conner walking into the room. Nightwing had just been hanging out in the weight room trying his best to not be noticed while he pushed his-self to the limits so he could keep up with the meta-humans.

"Well, if was just cooling down from my exercise." Nightwing said. He than released his body, but with both hands on the bar, flipped around the bar, released himself and flipped twice in a tight ball before landing on his feet next to Conner. The Super just raised one eyebrow.

"You are a show off. Don't think I don't know. I should have come in an hour ago. Your heartbeat is really too loud." Conner said. Nightwing shrugged, but he knew he was busted. If Supey found out how long he really had been in there…

"Why weren't you working out at the Bat-cave?"

"Well, Robin got a cold and Agent A won't let me see him until he is better. Also, Agent A is cleaning the Bat-cave."

"What is Batman doing?"

"Taking his turn in the Watchtower."

"Oh." Superboy and Nightwing stood for a minute until,

"Nightwing, you should take a shower." Nightwing laughed and patted Conner on the shoulder.

"Ok. See you soon!" Nightwing went to shower.

Nightwing had grown since October. He had gone from 5'2" to 5'7". Those five inches and the fact his shoulders had broadened, really made him seem older than he was. It was March 27 when he went to the cave to work out. His team, because Wally had told them, was pretty sure Nightwing was officially 16.

The steam from showers is what caught Garth's attention.

"Nightwing?"

"Yeah?" Nightwing replied. The showers turned off and a second later, Nightwing came out into the locker room with a towel around his waist.

"What up Beast Boy?" Nightwing asked, toweling off his hair.

"Well, you know how in five days it is April first?"

"What about it?"

"Well, that is April Fools Day! Please create some heavy pranks with me that day!" Garth pleaded.

"No." Garth retreated at the tone of Nightwing's voice.

"Sorry, I'm… busy that day." Nightwing was staring at the wall like he could see someone important in the tiles.

"Oh." Garth tried, and failed to hide his disappointment.

"Well, anyway, Happy belated Birthday!"

"What? It isn't my bir- never mind." Nightwing rushed his words.

"What, it isn't your birthday yet?"

"No."

"Is that a 'no' as in it is not yet my birthday, or 'no' as in my birthday has passed?"

"Garth, don't be so nosy." Nightwing said sharply as he tightened his towel. He growled as he realized he didn't have any other clothes except his sweat pants.

"Garth, can you grab me a.." Garth was gone. Nightwing felt a little bad that he had snapped at the kid, but really, five days from now? That was the day that… no!

_Don't think about it. You've lost enough sleep from nightmares, just focus on your job. Zatanna is with Dr. Fate on some other-dimension mission, Rocket is off with Icon on a mission, and Kaldur is asking me to co-lead on our next mission. _

Nightwing sighed and went to his room in just his sweat pants. Of course he had his mask on. As soon as he had turned off the water, he had put the mask on. He was just being cautious.

When Nightwing got to his room, he left the lights off and changed into his uniform. After a minute, the tired teen fell asleep on his bed.

Dick was smiling as he reached the ladder to the top of the trapeze. He was so excited, today he would join his parents in the biggest show if the year!

The snap echoed through the tent, and dick ran to catch his parents. Their blood was all over him… their hands pulled him down, down, down into a fiery dungeon where the screams of the dead echoed in his ears. Dick saw all the blood of victims he had failed o t save dump down in him. Then Jaso n came out and screamed at how much a failure Dick was, Jason was followed by Dick's parents, his aunt and his cousin. All his family who he had let die.

"No, no, NO!" Dick woke as a red clad hand shook him.

"Dude, it was just another Nightmare." Wally told his friend. Dick mad e asudden move and hugged Wally. Wally hugged his shaking friend back, he knew Dick always had problems with blaming himself and then having his fears and self-put blame haunt his dreams.

"Damn it Wally, why, why does this happen?" Nightwing gasped into his friends shoulder. Nigthwing was shaking so badly, it was like it Wally vibrating.

He didn't notice the green boy and tall Superboy in the door. Both stared at Nightwing in shock. Never had they seen him shake with so much fear. Even the past horrors they knew had happened to their friend, and the ones they had seen, never made Nightwing shake this much.

Garth, who was the first to notice Nightwing hadn't left the room, went to check on the older hero. When he had heard whimpering, Garth ran until he found someone else. He found Superboy who had just heard the fear filled sounds of his friend. Superboy went into Nightwing's room, but immediately saw he couldn't do anything. He called Wally who was on his way over anyway.

Wally had rushed to his friend, and woke him just before the screaming started. No Wally hoped his friend would recover quickly.

"Um, Nightwing? Are you ok?" Garth asked. Everyone saw Nightwing stiffen. Garth, who knew Nightwing hated physical contact walked over to see how tightly Nightwing held Wally.

"Please, Garth, Conner, just go." Nightwing's voice was hoarse. Garth frowned, but obliged. Conner didn't.

"Conner should stay, Nightwing, I need him here so I can tell you something." Wally said. Nightwing nodded, his arms still clutching Wally's shoulders, Wally kept his arms around Nightwing's shoulders.

"Well, I got accepted into that college that I applied for, and so did Artemis. We were thinking about moving in together and, and taking a break from hero work. We'll always be on call, but we won't really hang around." Wally felt really bad telling Nightwing this now, but there was no other way to ask Nightwing and Conner for co-operation.

"Well, if I'm not going to be here, someone will have to be hear to help you when, this happens. Conner, I really thought hard about it, and I think you would be the best help." Nightwing looked up. His face was slightly pale, but better.

"What?" Conner asked. He was thoroughly confused.

"Conner, Nightwing has these, nightmares, and they are really bad. He usually is really shaken after them and just needs a friend he can hold."

"Shut up, Wally." Nightwing sounded mad.

"I won't be here so,"

"Shut up, Wally!" Nightwing sound very mad now.

"So, he needs you to help him." Wally finished, Nightwing flung away his best friend. He looked mad, but Conner felt Nightwing really wanted another hug. So Conner did that, he hugged Nightwing from the side, and rubbed his back. When his strong hands rubbed the right side of Nightwing's spine, just between the shoulder blades, Nightwing relaxed into the hug. Wally smiled.

"Nightwing, you got to trust more people if you're going to be on a team. I think we can easily keep this between just the three of us." Wally also was doing this because he felt a huge responsibility rise form his shoulders.

"Shut up, Wally." Nightwing said as he fell asleep leaning against Conner.

"Wally, is why Nightwing has insomnia?" Conner asked.

"Heh, I think that is like half the reason. The half is probably habit. Oh, when he wakes up, just leave. Give him time to adjust. Thank you Conner." Wally said. Conner nodded. He was always rather protective of Nightwing, so he felt this was just him watching out for his friend.

"Do you know when dinner is?" Wally asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Shut up Wally." Nightwing said as he woke up and left his room. Conner smirked and knew that Nightwing officially trusted him, and was, in his own way, letting Conner help him.

**Ok. Well I'll get the next chapter up asap!**

**Love,**

**Burning Bright**


	2. Disguises

**Chapter 2! Now we will really start the story!**

**(o,0) shocked panda…**

The team was eating dinner together, which was very rare. Of course, just as the team was relaxing, a message from a mentor came on.

"Superman!" Wally choked on his pizza.

"Yes, I have a very urgent mission. For seven days I need you guys to go under cover for me and watch out for Luther and another villain. I'm not sure who the other is, but that is why I need you guys under cover. I already got your aliases. Please be ready by tonight, I'll have limo pick you up. I want you guys to meet with the reporter Clark Kent, he will assist you." With that, Superman logged off.

"Clark Kent?" Garth asked, everyone else smiled a knowing smile. Nightwing, went out of the room and came back with key cards.

"Sweet, Bruce Wayne bought us suits in the city! Here is everyone's fake I.D. Garth, you're Carter, a parrot. Kaldur, you are Usemon, a model from Africa directly, you barely speak English. Artemis, you are Ly, a Vietnamese model. Wally, you're Braxton, a British model. Batgirl, you're Jessica, a model from New York. Conner, you're Ralph, a body builder turned model from Texas, and Megan, you are Angel, a model from Florida. These papers have you're guy's history and personality, please read over them by tonight." Nightwing said as he handed everyone a paper.

"Who are you, Nightwing?" Batgirl asked as she read over her person's personality.

"Alex Hanson, half-Hawaiian guy who is interning in photography for models." Nightwing read from his paper. "Also, a model by degree." He added, looking up at the snickering faces. "What?" he asked.

"Well, most people aren't 16 when they get a degree." Artemis said. Nightwing looked back at his paper.

"Actually, according to this, I'm 21." Hear the YJ team cracked up. Nightwing smiled too. "Well, do you guys mind if I take care of your disguises?" Nightwing asked. He looked eager.

"Well, you have the most experience…"Batgirl said. The rest of the team agreed.

Artemis was first.

"O.K. we can either cut your hair, which is easier or use a wig."

"Cut my hair. I think Zatanna knows a spell to grow it out again if need be." Artemis said. Nightwing nodded. After a few minutes, Artemis had a long pixie cut style that had dark blonde highlights in it. She looked almost like a real model with her mane of hair cut, but Nightwing wasn't done. Nightwing did Artemis's make-up, and when she came out, her face looked older.

"Wow, Arty, you look like 25!" Wally said.

'Good, that is how old this paper says I am." Artemis said.

"Do me next Nightwing!" Wally yelled. Batgirl and Artemis looked at Wally strangley.

"What? Oh, stop staring you pervs!" Wally yelled. Nightwing rolled his eyes and dragged Wally into the restroom. When Wally came out, his green eyes were brown and he had a black streak in his hair. He had four piercing in his left ear, three in his right, and one on his lip. He looked really cool and sexy in that bad-boy way. He also looked older.

"How old is Braxton?" Artemis asked, looking Wally up and down.

"Heh, I knew you'd love him. Braxton is 23." Wally said.

"Hmm, good thing I like younger guys.' Artemis said, smiling.

"Babs, Supey, or Kaldur?" Nightwing asked.

"Ladies first!" Batgirl said. Before anyone could say anything, she went into the bathroom, dragging Nightwing after her.

"Should we be worried?" Wally asked.

"I'm sure they will be responsible." Artemis said. The YJ teens snickered.

When Batgirl came out she looked completely the same, but completely different. Her long red hair was in a loose braid over her shoulder and her eyes were now a bright green. She had glasses and her make-up made her look just old enough to not cause suspension. She also had a blush on her face. As she stood, Megan and Artemis noticed the blush became brighter when Nightwing came out.

_They so made out._ Artemis told Megan. Megan laughed. Next was Kaldur. Nightwing just made sure Kaldur's hair was black, and gave him brown contacts. Superboy went in and came out with dark brown hair, blue-green eyes and a very interesting tattoo was peeking out of his shirt collar.

"That tattoo is henna; it will rub off in about two-weeks." Nightwing said. Megan transformed into her disguise and Nightwing worked on himself.

Nightwing put in green contacts. He used a dark foundation over his arms, legs, face, and torso to darken his skin tone. He also used some clever make-up skills to make his eyes a tad bit smaller. Nightwing gave him self two earrings, one on each ear. He smiled at his work; he really didn't look the same.

"Wow, talk about a complete makeover." Batgirl said. Nightwing smiled. He was really proud of his work. Nightwing then started working on his friend's clothes.

Artemis wore a tight, low cut, green dress that reached half-way down her thighs. It was accented with a large brown weave belt that rested on her hips. She wore brown, sandal style three inch heels.

"Hot." Wally said, winking at his girlfriend. Artemis rolled her eyes.

Wally wore a blue button up shirt that had a little detail on the bottom left with a light jacket. Wally also had black jeans and a silver necklace. His hair had been spiked up and the black streak went every where giving a tiger stripe pattern.

"Call me 'Tiger'" Wally said striking a pose. Everyone was snickering.

Kaldur had a tight, white shirt and black leather jacket on. He wore black skinny jeans and white Chucks.

"Kaldur, you are very fashionable aren't you?" asked Artemis. Kaldur blushed.

Superboy wore a black muscle shirt with red suspenders. He had red Chucks and he had a dark, almost black, navy jacket. He wore worn blue jeans.

"Oh, wow." Megan whispered. Superboy blushed.

` Megan had changed so her hair was a bright, dyed blonde. The length was down to her butt, and her eyes were a fawn brown. Her skin was olive brown. She wore a soft pink shirt that cut off at her stomach, showing two inches of her mid-rift. She wore long jeans that had sequence on the back pockets. She had simple brown weave sandals.

"Wow to you too." Superboy muttered running his hand through his style hair. Megan blushed and leaned against her boyfriend.

Batgirl wore a red top with frayed ends at the sleeves and along the bottom. She had dark blue jeans on and white Toms. She also had slim glasses on.

"I would never where this in public." Said the now shy hero.

"Well, we will be on a stage and posing for the cameras, so that isn't really the public is it?" Nightwing said. When he came out, Batgirl had to catch herself from panting.

Nightwing had simple white button up shirt and the top two buttons were undone. The sleeves were rolled up to the elbows. Nightwing's long locks had been brushed to be perfectly messy. He had black skinny jeans and black Chucks. He wore his trademark sunglasses too. The simplicity of ht e outfit made Nightwing's good looks shine.

"Oh, that boy." Muttered Batgirl. Megan and Artemis giggled. Artemis punched Batgirl's arm to wake her up. Luckily Nightwing had been distracted by Garth changing into an ostrich.

"Garth, you can't be an Ostrich."

"Why not?" replied a whiny Garth.

"One: why would we have an ostrich; two: ostriches aren't green." Nightwing explained.

"But!"

"No, just be a small songbird or a parakeet." Nightwing said. Garth frowned.

"Fine." The boy became a small parakeet with just a hint of yellow on his cheeks.

"Perfect, everyone remember there names? We should use those names from now on to keep in character. I'm Alex." When Nightwing introduced his self, he gave himself an accent. It matched his persona perfectly.

"I'm Braxton!" Wally said, with an extremely good English accent.

"I'm Ly." Artemis said. "Nightwing, why does my name mean lion?" she asked.

"I'm Alex, not Nightwing. I guess it was just coincidence." Nightwing said, fighting down a smile. Artemis scowled.

"I'm Angel!" Megan said happily.

"I'm Ralph." Superboy used his Terror Twin southern accent for his persona. Nightwing nodded in approval.

"I believe I am Usemon. I apologize for my poor English." Kaldur said. His ability to fake coherency was astounding.

"I'm Jessica!" Batgirl made her voice slightly shy.

"Good. Let's go!"

**If I call the characters by their personas, don't freak please! Next chapter soon!**


	3. The Shoot

**Chapter 3!**

**I think the real the action starts next chapter. Enjoy!**

**(p,p) sad panda…**

The group met their boss as soon as they exited the limo.

"Hey you guys!" the man said. He looked like a stereo-typical California surfer dude.

"Hello! You're the boss I take it?" Nightwing asked.

"Yup! I'm Jared. Can you guys introduce yourselves to me please?" Jared was big. He looked about 6'3" and, mostly muscle. Nightwing took this information in by habit.

"I'm Alex; this is Usemon, Jessica, Ly, Angel, Ralph and Braxton." Nightwing introduced everyone as they exited the limo. Garth came flying out last.

"Wow! A bird! What's its name?" Jared asked.

"This is Carter." 'Angel' said.

"Cool. Call me J. I'm the boss. First thing to do is to assign you guys on who you will be posing as. Ready?"

"Yeah, but J, can remind us what we are doing again?" Artemis asked.

"Sure Ly. We are doing Alice in Wonderland. You are the Red Queen!" J seemed very happy with that. Artemis nodded.

"You, tiger hair, Braxton right? You are the Crazy Hare." Wally fist pumped.

"I love that hare!" Wally said. J smiled.

"Good. You, Ralph, you are the Captain of the Cards." Conner nodded.

"Angel, you are Alice. Usemon, you are the Wise Caterpillar. Jessica, you are… The Cheshire Cat!" J finished with pride.

"Well, what is Alex here?" Asked Wally.

"Oh yeah, Alex, you be the Mad Hatter."

"O.K." Conner noticed that J was staring a bit longer at Nightwing than necessary.

"Yes, this will work nicely." J smiled. "Let's get you guys geared up ok?"

Artemis stared at her reflection. Never had she worn so much make-up. First she had Nightwing's make-up, now she had Red Queen make-up. Her eyelids were rimmed with red, and the whole area was gold. Her lips were rosy red wit gold sparkles hinting a glow. She also had gold dust over red blush on her cheeks.

Then there was the dress. It was a consuming, constricting white dress with four petticoats. Then there were red ruffles on the sleeves and the collar. Red silk also just appeared everywhere in shapes of hearts on the dress. It was a very bothersome ball gown, yet it looked pretty somehow.

Jessica (Batgirl) came out with a purple body suit on. She had little cat ears on her head, and a big bell collar around her waist. The dress dipped way to low to be appropriate. The tail was connected to her wrist and when she walked, it looked like it flicked. She wore black, thigh-high boots. The outfit was very sexy. Her make-up was silver lining all over, on her lids, lips, and whiskers. She had fake canines too.

Angel (Megan) had on a very sweet, blue dress that went halfway down her thighs. She had stockings that went just above her knees. She had black shoes, and a white, lacey head-band. Her make-up was light blush that made her face glow, and light pink lipstick. She looked very natural.

"Hmm, I think Angel her got the best deal." Jessica (Batgirl) said. Ly (Artemis) nodded.

"Well, let's see the boys." Angel (Megan) said.

"I hate this." Wally said. He had on huge, brown ears and a nice waist-coat tux. Plaid covered everywhere that wasn't white. Nightwing shrugged. Kaldur had on a blue suit with small butterfly wings on the back. Somehow the outfit looked dignified on the quiet leader.

"Rather humbling experience isn't it." Kaldur said.

"Yeah, it is Uesmon." Conner said. He had a white suit with the Ace of hearts style print on it. One 'A' was on the right shoulder, and one was on his left hip. A huge heart was in the middle of his chest. Nightwing snickered.

"Shut-up, look at yourself?" Conner growled.

Nightwing wore a purple sports-jacket over a tattered white shirt. He had black skinny leggings that had polka-dot patched all over them. He also had large, brown boots. The ends of his sleeves had white ruffles sticking out. He wore a large, tattered purple hat that was on a tilt. The hat had a black band around it and two huge green ostrich feathers sticking out. He also had a black and purple polka-dotted bow-tie.

"Yeah, but I'm having a lot of fun laughing at your guy's costumes." Nightwing said, smirking. Just then J came in.

"You guys are done changing?" He sounded slightly disappointed. The teens nodded.

"OK! Lets go!"

After about a minute of silently laughing at each other, the teens were posed. 'Alice" had her back to the camera and was looking at eh scene before her. The 'Red Queen' had a scepter pointing at the 'Mad Hatter'. The 'Captain of the Cards' was standing proudly under the Queen's scepter. The 'Crazy Hare' was hanging upside down from a tree over the 'Mad Hatter' who was holding a hand out to 'Alice'. The 'Cheshire Cat' was on her stomach in between 'Mad Hatter's' legs smiling. The 'Wise Caterpillar' had his back to the camera too, but he was looking over his shoulder to see 'Alice'. You could just see the book in his hands. The picture looked really cool in the end. The heroes where exhausted by the end.

_I never, EVER thought that this would be so exhausting!_ Wally said. Everyone was in the lounge and out of costume.

_No kidding!_ Artemis said. She still had some gold dust on her face. The team fell into a deep sleep soon after. That's when everything went wrong.

Batgirl woke up first to find an itch on her nose. She simply had her tail scratch it. Then she screamed.

"OH MY GOD I HAVE A FREAKIN TAIL!"

The rest of the group woke up with a start. They all looked at Batgirl in a sleepy gaze.

"What?" Nightwing asked. His sunglasses were a little askew from sleeping. Then everyone noticed they were in a field of flowers. Then everyone looked at each other.

Kaldur had lost his disguise and had actual blue butterfly wings on. Batgirl had cat ears, tail, eyes, and claws. Artemis had a red heart tattoo over her eye. Wally had real bunny ears. Conner was white as paper; in clothes and skin. He also had the Ace design on his whole body. Nightwing looked to be the only one unaffected. Until the group realized he was in his Nightwing uniform.

"What?" They all said. Just then, j appeared.

"J! Why are we dressed like this?" Then the YJ team saw J was wearing the Mad Hatter costume. Nightwing's eyes widened a little.

"Hello, _Alex_! Thought you could fool me? Ha! You are the fools who walked right into my trap! I, the MAD HATTER have fooled the prodigious Nightwing!" Mad Hatter went on like this for a while. Then Nightwing spoke up.

"Sir? I'm not Nightwing! What are you doing with us?" Nightwing didn't let his character drop once. Mad Hatter poofed and appeared right in Nightwing's face.

"Hmmm. I see you don't really look like him, but you do resemble him… EVOMER!" Nightwing's disguise fell off, luckily his sunglasses stayed on.

"Ha! You ARE Nightwing!" Mad Hatter, with his can, flicked off Nightwing's glasses, but before he could see Nightwing's face, a green parakeet screeched and scratched his face.

"AHH!" yelled Mad Hatter. The YJ team took this chance to run away, into the conveniently close woods.

"You fools!" Mad Hatter yelled, "You cannot hide hear! This is MY MAD WORLD! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The team ran as fast as they could as Mad Hatter's laughter faded. The team slowed down after a few minutes and looked around.

"Guys, where are you!" Wally yelled. No one responded.

"Conner?" Megan called. She even sent out mental calls, but no one responded.

"Wally, Megan, Batgirl?" Artemis called.

"Nightwing?" Batgirl called.

"Megan, MEAGAN!" Conner yelled.

No one could find each other and the sun was setting.


	4. Fight on

**Chapter 4! Just want to say, a senior at my school died today, I'm sorry if the story seems affected, but writing is my outlet for life.**

**I am almost certain that this story will be shorter than my others, but since I always write this before I write the story, I'm usually wrong…**

**Anyway, let's go.**

**(I don't own anything!) (v,v) suspicious panda…**

Nightwing held Garth on his back as he scrambled into a tree. He listened silently as Mad Hatter ran screaming underneath them. When the yelling faded, Nightwing arranged himself and Garth so he could see Garth's injury.

When Garth had attacked MH (**Mad Hatter, might just call him Mad**), he had gotten his arm cut open as he changed back to a human.

"O.K. Garth, let's see this." Nightwing had to pr Garth's arm from the boy's body.

"It, it hurts!" Garth could barely keep from crying out. Nightwing held the arm out and looked at the cut. It was a deep gash the length of Garth's forearm, which was where it was.

"Good thing I kept by belt hidden on me." Nightwing said. He pulled the belt out from under his 'suit' and put it around his waist.

"How, how did Mad Hatter get your suit?" Garth asked, trying to distract himself.

"It isn't my suit sadly, just some cloth version. It doesn't have any Kevlar." Nightwing took a small bottle, and poured some liquid onto the wound. Garth flinched as the hydrogen peroxide cleaned the cut. Nightwing took some gauze and bandages and cover the cut.

"There, won't be too good for long term or fighting, but if you stay on my back and don't move your arm to much, it will be fine." Garth blushed. He could see where his bloodied arm had held Nightwing on the ride over; there was a blood smear around Nightwing's neck.

"All right, let's go." Nightwing said, turning so Garth could get on his back. Just before Garth did, the branch beneath him disappeared and Garth fell.

"GARTH!" Nightwing yelled. Garth's silent scream had his mouth open as he fell. Garth then felt strong arms wrap around him and he landed on the ground with an umph.

"Ow." Garth said, sitting up. He looked at what he had landed on and saw Nightwing. "Nightwing! Are you ok?" Garth gushed.

"Yeah… what about you?" Nightwing sat up too. Garth said he was fine. Nightwing looked around them and just grabbed Garth and held him like a child. When Nightwing started running, a gunshot sounded and Nightwing fell. Garth could see blood gushing from Nightwing's calf.

"Garth!, Run and find the others!" Nightwing yelled before getting up and facing the Mad Hatter who had just come into sight. Garth ran. When Garth turned he saw Nightwing slip on something red, his blood.

"Go!" Nightwing called as he twisted his body to avoid being stabbed in the head by the Mad Hatter. Garth turned and ran into the woods.

Garth ran as hard as he could, but he also knew he wouldn't find anyone just running around blidly.

_I have to change into a bloodhound, but… my arm._ Garth looked at his arm; the bandages were already coming loose.

_If Nightwing can fight after being shot, I can run with this!_ Garth thought determinedly. He changed into a bloodhound and almost immediately caught a scent.

_This way!_ Just as Garth put weight on his leg, it buckled and he fell.

_No! I will keep going!_ Garth got up and pushed through the pain. He hobbled after the scent.

_I'm hurrying Nightwing, just hold on until I get everyone!_

Nightwing saw Garth turn and run. Nightwing twisted sideways to keep the sword that Mad Hatter just so happen to have from stabbing his head. He than kicked his leg into Mad Hatter's stomach and flipped him over. Nightwing tried to swing his body side ways and push himself up, but was tackled by Mad Hatter.

"How did you?"

"I've been working out kid. I also took some marshal arts as 'Jared'." Mad Hatter laughed. Mad Hatter was on Nightwing's stomach looking down at his prey. Mad Hatter had gotten Nightwing's right arm pinned under him and was holding to left hand down with his weight.

` "Now, stop moving so much…" Mad Hatter took his sword scepter and stabbed it in Nightwing's hand. Nightwing barely held back the scream of pain. Nightwing's hand was twitching, and Nightwing was using all his will not to rip the hand up and clutch it to his chest. Mad Hatter took the top off his scepter and another hidden blade appeared. Mad Hatter then un-pinned Nightwing's other arm and did the same to his right hand.

"Ag." Nightwing let a groan escape. Mad Hatter pulled a knife out of his waist coat and slammed it into the ground next to Nightwing's face. The edge of the blade cut into Nightwing's face, the edge of the blade rested in Nightwing's flesh when Mad Hatter let go of it. It was held up by the dirt it had been primarily stabbed into.

"Well, you are defiantly trying something new." Nightwing growled. Mad Hatter laughed.

"Yes, I decided to have my fun. I am almost positive that someone or something will prevent me from killing you, so instead I'll just practice some new techniques on you! I am going to see how long it takes for you to crack. Maybe, if you are good, I'll just take control of your mind and let you not remember killing your so called friends."

Nightwing squirmed. He knew of Mad Hatter's mind control games. He should have guessed form the topic of eth photo shoot! Also, he should have taken Clark's advice.

_Don't rule out any villains. Even the ones who are supposed to be in Arkham._ They had been told Mad Hatter was still locked up, but how much mind control had been put in to make their informant lie?

That was when Mad Hatter pulled out a hot glue gun.

"This special gun doesn't use normal glue. I hope you enjoy it!" Mad Hatter cut open Nightwing's faux uniform top, revealing his chest. As soon as the glue touched Nightwing's skin, he knew exactly what was special about the glue. He gritted his teeth as his skin melted slowly from heat and acid. The pain was tremendous.

"Oh, not doing anything? Well, what about this?" The Mad Hatter pulled out a lighter. He clicked it next to the steaming glue/acid covered skin.

_Damn thing had to be flammable_ Nightwing thought as he succumbed to the temptation of ripping his hands free. He rolled over in the grass until the fire died, all the time the Mad Hatter laughed, and laughed.

_Garth, hurry!_

**Well, how is it? I hope it makes since. II feel really, really down today. Should I eventually kill Mad Hatter?**

**Love**

**Burning Bright (as much as I can with the rain from my eyes pouring down)**


	5. Reunite

**Chapter 5!**

**It was brought to my attention that Garth, wasn't actually the nick-name for Garfield. So instead I will, from now on, be saying Gar or BB. Sorry about that. Anyway, more whumpage coming up!**

Gar ran with all his might, his wounded leg slowing him down immensely. He couldn't see where he was going because black spots blocked his vision. Gar was going completely by his sense of smell. So, he didn't see Wally until he ran right into him.

"Wow! Gar! Why are you going so fast? Are you hurt? Do you know where the others are? Gar?Gar?Aren'tyougoingtoanswerme?Gar?Gar?BB?"

"Nightwing- hurt-help-find-leg-gah." Gar fell into Wally's supporting arms, almost fainting with pain.

"Wow buddy." Wally said. Wally could see the blood leaking through the bandages on the green boy's forearm.

"Let's take care of that cut. Did Nightwing do this? He usually ties them tighter…"

"Hurt!" Gar panted. "Nightwing and Hatter! They are fighting and Nightwing is hurt!"

` "Oh. We need to find the others, can you find them? I'll go help…" Wally looked at the obviously exhausted boy he was supporting.

"Yeah, I'll get them, you help Nightwing." Gar seemed to be having a hard time catching his breath. Wally frowned.

"O.K. Here, I'll carry you and you lead me to the others. We'll find them the fastest that way. After we get everyone, we'll save Nightwing. I'm sure Nightwing can hold off until them." Wally said, gathering the younger hero in his arms.

"No! Nightwing was hit in the leg! He might be bleeding out now!"

"Gar, as much as I hate to say this, Nightwing can deal with that. You look like you're about to die, and we need to get the others. Lead me to them and we'll be done almost instantly." Wally said, hoping that the exhausted boy would listen to his logic. Gar nodded slowly.

"Fine, but we must hurry." Gar turned into a bloodhound and Wally repositioned him so he was easier to carry. The two speed off into the trees.

They found Superboy first, followed by Kaldur, then Megan and Artemis, finally they tracked down Batgirl.

"Hey, glad we found almost everyone. Gar, let me get that for you." Batgirls said. She still had her cat tail, but seemed to be enjoying the new attachment.

"No time! Nightwing is injured!"

"What! We have to go now!"

"Calm down Batgirl. Gar tell us what we might be dealing with."

"Ok Kaldur. Nightwing had some injury to his calf, I think a bullet wound, it was bleeding enough for him to slip on it."

"Gad, we have to go now!"

"But, he was still fighting without any restraint when I left. I think Batgirl is right. I'll lead you guys to Nightwing." Garth turned back into a bloodhound and changed back to human almost immediately.

"Gar? What is wrong?" Kaldur asked. Megan read the boys face and paled.

"Gar, tell us." Conner said, his voice cool and controlled.

"The amount of Nightwing's blood… the smell is… it's over powering."

Nightwing rolled over in pain. The holes in his hands were bleeding profusely, and his chest was on fire. Not literally, when he had been on fire it hadn't hurt this much.

"Damn you Hatter." Muttered the young, dark-haired hero.' :Oh my, would Batty-boy approve of you word choice? I don't think so. I guess I'll just have to punish you. Tsk tsk tsk. I know, a good old fashion lashing will do!" Mad Hatter pulled out of his large, bulky coat, a long, smooth, black abject. He held one end in his hand, and as it uncurled, Nightwing saw the black object was a cat-o-nine.

"Yes, this will do. One lash for every letter!" The whip fell once, but Nightwing rolled out of t eh way, the second time he wasn't as lucky.

"grr."

"ONE!" a large welt formed on Nightwing's arm. The whip came down again and wrapped around Nightwing's leg for a moment before coming free. The cloth tore. Nightwing tried to limp away, but het whip had gone over the bullet wound.

"TWO!" Nightwing tried to move his fingers, but his torn, wet, blood-covered hands wouldn't obey his will. While Nightwing was momentarily distracted, the whip came down, this time right atop Nightwing's head. It left five, zig-zagged lines on Nightwing's forehead. Blood painted across Nightwing's sweat covered forehead.

"THREE!"

Nightwing felt his blood boil. He tried not to get angry, but he was really getting his but kicked here. The whip fell one more time, but Mad Hatter had a trick up his sleeve. As Nightwing dodged it, little wires shot out and grabbed him. Nightwing was dragged back t o Mad Hatter. Nightwing went "OOF" just as Mad Hatter grabbed his what was left of the faux-suit's collar.

"Well, well, well, guess Batman's pride and joy isn't so great. Tell me, have you ever made the old man mad? Have you ever broken his trust? Have you?" The Mad Hatter ended his question by stabbing another knife into Nightwing. This one had an unusually long blade. The blade went through Nightwing's left shoulder, and pinned him onto a tree.

"Ah- grr, you won't get away you know." Nightwing tried to buy time, if Gar got everyone soon…

"Think your buddies will save you? Well do you know how well that will lay into my hands? They can see me kill you! Won't that be fun?" Nightwing glared. Sometime between waking up in this weird place and this fight now, Nightwing had put his mask back on.

"I really hate your mask. I want to know who I'm hurting, but part of the fun is not knowing who you plunge your knife into. Oh it is so, so hard to decide what to do! I know! I'll just proceed with my plan." Mad Hatter let go of Nightwing's collar and he dropped a little. The knife climbed higher into his shoulder.

"What plan?" Nightwing growled. While Mad Hatter hadn't been looking, Nightwing had gotten a special tool out of his belt.

"Oh? I guess I'll tell you. You will probably find some way to escape, so until then, I'll just insert this!"

"What?" Nightwing was on edge. Just then Mad Hatter punched him in the face. Before Nightwing could recover, Mad Hatter punched him in the eye. Unbelievable pain exploded and Nightwing felt blood trickle down his cheek. There was a painful stabbing, crawling sensation behind his eye, just then Nightwing pulled the trigger.

Mad Hatter twitched as the electricity of het high-powered tazer shot through him. Just then, the YJ team burst through the woods.

"Nightwing!" Batgirl yelled. She ran to him and pulled the knife out. Nightwing was breathing heavily.

"I'm ok, well, I've been worse." Nightwing huffed. He felt the crawling sensation, no it couldn't be. "Guys, be careful, Hatter might have gotten some mind control thing in me." Nightwing warned.

"It will be fine man, but we really need to get you patched up!" Wally said relief all over his face. Gar beamed, he seemed pretty good for having an injury.

About and hour later, Nightwing was walking into the main hall to watch the the training. That's when the tingling came back. His whole body felt wired and surging with electricity.

"Guys!" Nightwing yelled, getting attention, but not before he jumped into action. He landed on Gar and twisted the small boy's neck like paper, breaking it. He jumped onto Wally and with a bird-a-rang, sliced his best friend's throat. Wally had a betrayed look on his face. Artemis tried to get and arrow off, but found and exploding bird-a-rang in her chest. Her arm landed on Canner who charged the renegade Nightwing. Nightwing whipped out some kryptonite and held it up. He got close enough to Conner, and forced it down the half- Kryptonian's throat. Conner choked a minute, and then his eyes faded. Megan screamed but it was cut short when Nightwing threw more exploding bird-a-rangs. The heat blew both Megan and Kaldur back. Nightwing tied cirane wrap around Kaldur's gills and threw him in the pool, with weights on his feet. He then tied Megan to a log soaked in gasoline and caught it on fire. He went to the Batcave. Robin was there, smiling at Nightwing's return. Robin tackled Nightwing with a hug, but his words of welcome were choked on by his own blood, a knife sticking out of his back. Batman came down and saw the scene.

"Nightwing, you…" Nightwing looked at his hands, he was covered in blood. How had Robin missed that?

"Nightwing, how could you?" On the computer screen were the pictures of Nightwing's dead comrades. Batgirl and Rocket were in the room, they entered the zeta beams. A few seconds later they entered the Batcave.

"What happened, Nightwing!" Their voices were high in shock and greif.

"It… it was Mad Hatter! I told you, he must have…"

"Don't make excuses you murderer!" Batman, Batgirl and Rocket attacked. Nightwing threw four bird-a-rangs. Two hit Rocket in the stomach, one of those exploded. Blood came down like rain. Batgirl's eyes were wide.

"Why?" She stood right next to Nightwing, and knife sticking out of her chest, right over her heart, and a hand on the handle. Nightwing released the girl her had recently realized was more that a friend.

"I… I loved you" Batgirl croaked. Nightwing turned to fight Batman. Batman was on him in a heart beat, but Nightwing got to the emergency gun first. He turned, aimed and fired six rapid shots. He had never fired a gun before, but at that distance, he didn't need good aim. Nightwing looked at the carnage. Suddenly, some force held him still. J'hn and Superman stood before him, faces full of rage.

"You are no better than Joker." J'hn hissed, tears running down his face.

"You devil of a human, go rot in hell! But first, rot in Arkaham." Superman said his voice feeling literally like ice.

Tears burned Nightwing's eyes. His heart felt like it was ripped in two.

Mad Hatter twitched as he hit the ground, smiling as his plan took affect. He could already see it in Nightwing's face. He let unconsciousness take him as the YJ team burst into the clearing.

"Nightwing!" Batgirl yelled as she ran to him.

**Well? Please review! Next chapter soon!**


	6. Medical attention

**Chapter 6. Enjoy! **

**(-,-) sleepy panda…shh**

"Nightwing!" Batgirl ran to Nightwing and immediately removed the knife. She caught him as he fell, completely unconscious into her arms. Conner came over and easily took the light load from the almost hysterical girl. Conner carefully mad sure that the injured chest wasn't rubbing against anything.

"Wow, what ever got onto him, well, that must have hurt.' Artemis said quietly. Megan nodded, bravely holding back tears.

"I'm trying to call the bio-ship, but I don't know where we are…" Megan stated. Wally carefully reached into Nightwing's belt and dug around fore a bit.

"Found it." He said, revealing a GPS. Wally turned it on.

"You are in Colorado. You are roughly two thousand miles from your supposed to be position. Batman has been notified." A computerized voice said. A few seconds later, and couple odd looks, a black shadow fell over het team. They looked up to see the Bat-plane.

"What happened?" Batman asked coldly as the group climbed the rope ladder onto the plane.

"Well…" Wally started. Kaldur ended up telling the story. When he had finished, they were at the cave. Conner carried Nightwing into the cave.

"We have to hurry," Conner said. Conner could hear some irregularity with Nightwing's heart. Sometimes it would race; sometimes it would beat very slowly, like he was waking up from a deep sleep.

When Nightwing was on the operating table Batgirl noticed something.

"Look at his face, it keeps twitching. Wasn't it doing this on the bio-ship?" Everyone looked, just in time to see Nightwing twist his face in anguish. A couple tears escaped the mask, and Nightwing's lips quivered. Then the reaction stopped, and Nightwing looked peaceful. "We should hurry and treat him." Wally said. He hated seeing that anguished face. He wanted to stop it. While everyone else treated Nightwing, Batgirl watched him.

"Hmmm." She muttered, "Is that a pattern I'm seeing?" a dark shadow came over her.

"I believe so." Said Batman's controlled voice. "I cannot get in touch with Superman or Wonderwoman, or anyone else. I am going back to the watchtower, I need you all to watch over Nightwing until medical help is available. Robin should be on his way to help." Batman turned and disappeared into the zeta beams.

"Batman is leaving Nightwing in our care?" Rocket, who had just walked up, asked.

"Yes, the injuries aren't life-threatening, but we should do our best. I'm taking a college course in nursing, anyone else have any experience?" Batgirl asked. Rocket and Kaldur both raised their hands.

"I'm actually a freshman in college. I had finals; that is why I had to skip this mission. I'm minoring in nursing." Rocket said sheepishly. Batgirl nodded.

"In Atlantis, it is customary for everyone to learn basic first-aid, and laceration treatments, since such injuries are common down there." Kaldur explained. So, just Batgirl, Kaldur and Rocket stayed in the room to treat Nightwing. Megan went to bake something for when Nightwing recovered.

Batgirl looked at the melted mess of skin on Nightwing's chest.

"Fist we should clean it." She said. Rocket gave her a smile and a confirmative nod. Kaldur had a special disinfectant scrub and solution and wiped down the skin. Very little blood spilled since the skin had melted together, closing itself.

"Just saying, gross!" Rocket tried to keep the mood light. It was a hard task. Rocket decided to try a different approach. While Kaldur went to get some extra supplies from another room, Rocket cornered Batgirl. "Did you and Nightwing make out when he gave you your disguise?" The blunt question caught the slim younger girl off-guard.

"No." Rocket noted the tint of sadness in her friend's voice.

"What? But you were blushing like crazy when you came out of het bathroom!"

"Oh, that. Well, you see… Nightwing said for my disguise to be perfect I should wear a push-up bra to make my breast bigger. Then he said that normally he wouldn't think so because he thought I was cute enough… I was just embarrassed."

"Un-huh. Well, we better do a good job so he can clear up that confusion!" Rocket laughed as Kaldur came in.

"Did I miss something?"

"No Kaldur. Let's start."

First, they had to completely remove the rest of Nightwing's top. After that, they had to re-wipe down the skin and examine the damage.

"Hmm, because the skin is sealed closed, the blood wasn't able to leak out and is bruising."

"That could be dangerous. Batgirl should we…"

"Kaldur I think we do. Rocket, pass me the scalpel."

"Roger." Rocket passed the scalpel into Batgirl's steady hand. Rocket and Kaldur both put their hands on Nightwing's arms, just in case he woke up. They had decided not to use and anesthetics because Nightwing had not responded to anything since they had found him against the tree.

Batgirl slipped the scalpel into the marred flesh. Blood immediately spurted out, like water that had been held back by a dam.

"Whoa!"

"I repeat, gross."

Batgirl made three cuts, one across Nightwing's mid-section, one on the right side of his chest, and one on the left. The cuts were just deep enough to let the blood flow out, but not deep enough to cut muscle.

"Good, clean and sharp. I'm impressed Batgirl."

"Thank you Rocket."

Next, the group treated the cuts with stitches and bandages. Next was the shoulder wound. The knife had gone through Nightwing's body, but it was sharp and smooth, so infection was unlikely. The group stitched the wound and moved on to the hands.

"Oh thank goodness it isn't as bad as it looks." Batgirl sighed. She was right. Even though it was bloody, the blade had missed the bones and slipped through the muscles. It had clipped a nerve, which everyone imagined hurt a lot. They quickly cleaned, stitched and bandaged the injuries. That's when Batgirl noticed the blood running from Nightwing's eye. While Nightwing did have a cut on his forehead, a black eye, and a busted lip, Batgirl was sure that he didn't have a cut on his eye.

"Does Nightwing have a type of hemophilia?" Rocket asked. The way the blood leaked out did resemble the blood disease that made it seem like people cried blood.

"No…" Batgirl removed Nightwing's mask. She just barely caught a bit of strange movement behind Nightwing's closed eyelid.

"Get Superboy. Now!"

"So you want me to x-ray vision into Nightwing's head to look for something that might not be there. You do know I can't use my x-ray vision well." Conner spoke as he stared down on the slim figure of Nightwing on the cot. Nightwing would have looked peaceful if his face wasn't so twisted in anguish, and if there weren't bandages all over him.

"Conner, please just ry.' Batgirl pleaded. Conner looked at her.

"You thought I wouldn't?" He watched as everyone in the room stared.

"Supey, you just made a oke? Damn it Conner! Can't you hold it for when Nightwing is conscious?" Wally yelled. Megan looked at Wally sadly.

"Wally, he is conscious, just unresponsive." She explained.

'What? You guys knew this?" nods.

"And yet you did little surgery with him like this!"

"Wally, I can feel some great pain off Nightwing, but it isn't physical. We need to let Batgirl ,Rocket and Kaldur space to work so Nightwing will wake-up faster." Artemis led Wally out of the room.

"I'm starting now." Conner took a deep breath and focused. He remembered what Superman had said about learning x-ray vision. First, go into heat-vision mode. Than focus down the energy of het heat-vision until you feel like you are straining to look through a microscope. Finally, don't think. If you try to visualize what you want to see, you'll ruin the image. After a few moments Conner could see a bluish, black and white image of his friends. He focused on Nightwing and almost jumped out of his skin.

"Conner?"

Conner had jerked backwards in shock.

"What is it?"

"Behind his eye, and spidery thing just, quickly! It's on his optical chord!"

Batgirl did what she had to do, she opened Nightwing's eye and popped the eye-ball out. Then she, with her hand, plucked a small, silver spidery mechanical object from the optical and was about to crush it when Conner grabbed it and threw it in a bag. The spider exploded, blowing the bag up. The teens could see t eh green gas that expanded from eth destroyed object. Batgirl quickly popped Nightwing's eye in place.

"What, what was that?" Artemis, who had re-entered the room asked.

"A trap. Either Nightwing got his head exploded, or we died form the gasses that were in the bomb." Conner growled. Batgirl was watching Nightwing's face.

"Nightwing, you're safe now. Come on, wake up!" She whispered to him.

"Please, just kill me." Nightwing choked out. His words were silent but everyone heard them.

"Nightwing?"

"JUST KILL ME DAMMIT!"

**Cliffy! Hehehehehe**

**The more you review, the faster I'll update!**

**Love**

**Burning Bright **


	7. Flashback

**Chapter 7!**

**If anyone is wondering, it is really easy to pop and eye-ball out, and put it back in without any medical problems. But don't try it. I never said it was painless.**

**Ready for all the confusion to be gone? Well to bad, I think this chapter will probably be very confusing…**

**(o,o) baby panda…**

The YJ stared at Nightwing. Batgirl had replaced Nightwing's mask, so his eyes were covered, but you didn't need to see Nightwing's eyes to know they were wide in fear.

Nightwing rolled off the bed and rolled towards the door. The YJ team tried to stop him.

"Nightwing, it's ok! You're safe!"

"No! You're not! Just, kill me! That's the only way!" Nightwing backed to the door, the team felt the air change as the idea popped into Nightwing's mind. Nightwing started to turn, but a black gloved hand came out of the door's shadow and hit him at eh neck joint. Nightwing fell into Batman's strong arms, limp and unconscious.

"What happened?" Batman asked, for once his voice wasn't low and growling. It had a tinge of noticeable worry. The YJ team saw Robin just behind Batman, and also Superman.

"Batman, we were administering as much aid as we could, and we discovered something. Nightwing had been rendered unconscious and having, or so we believe, hallucinations. He woke when we removed the machine that kept him from awaking and demanded we kill him. He… I think he was about to run off and kill himself before you intervened." Kaldur said.

"Show me the device." Batgirl handed Batman the bag with the destroyed object. The gas in the bag had dissipated. Batman handed Nightwing to Superman and examined the bag.

"Damn Mad Hatter." Batman growled.

"What is it?" asked Artemis.

"A T.O Morrow invention. Morrow made this just for Mad Hatter. It slips into the body somehow, then finds its way to the optical chord. It starts changing what the person sees to whatever was programmed. The invasion and failing of eth optical chord sends a signal for eth body to shut down while the problem is repairing, similar to sleeping when you're sick, except with this thing in place the body still receives messages. Since the rest of the body's senses are on hold, the brain creates a very detailed image, based only on sight. Sound and touch are added in to match what the eye sees. Whatever this thing played, it must have been horrible for it to affect Nightwing like that." Batman mumbled the last bit.

"Maybe we can find out what happened." Megan said softly. Everyone looked at her. "I mean, if I, or we, go into Nightwing's head, we would see what he saw. Once we figure out what he saw, we can help him." Megan's suggestion sounded good except…

"Megan, he is a bit unconscious." Wally said.

"Oh, that… I don't need people to be conscious if I know where they are now. I've gotten a lot better." Megan smiled, but the YJ team felt a little uneasy with that fact.

"Ok, Megan you take them, I'll be tracking Mad Hatter." Batman said.

"Batman, we left Hatter for the police…"

"The police didn't get him. Don't worry; if you guys want to 'talk' to Mad Hatter later just tell me." Batman disappeared into the shadow of the doorframe.

"OK, um. Kids, or um, teens… Anyway, you guys will go and see what you can find out about Nightwing's hallucinations. I'll um, I'll go and inform the other members of Mad Hatter's escape." Superman made sure that Nightwing was safely lying on the cot and then left.

"Ok. Let's go." Megan said. After a second, the YJ members saw themselves in a round room with pictures spinning too fast to focus on.

"Where are we?" Rocket asked.

"This is like a homeroom. It is my mind with all of you guys connected. It might take me a while to… Never mind. This way into Nightwing's memory." Megan floated off to the only still picture. The picture was of a clearing, the same one the YJ team had found Nightwing in.

"Man, I feel like this trip is going to haunt me for my whole life." Wally muttered. The rest of the team followed Megan into the memory.

The first thing the team noticed was how silent it was. Just as the thought crossed there mind, a yelling Mad Hatter flew across their line of sight. The YJ team turned and saw Nightwing. This must have been before he had slipped, because only his leg was bleeding. Just then, Nightwing turned and yelled

"Run!" The YJ team looked to where he was yelling, and saw Gar disappear into the woods. They turned back to the fight.

_We can't interfere art all, I'm sorry if anything…disturbing happens._ – Megan

Just as Gar disappeared, Nightwing had to jump backwards, but he slipped on some dark liquid.

_Was that his blood?_ – Rocket

Nightwing fell, but dodged the sword that suddenly appeared.

_Where did he get a sword?_ – Wally

_Um, it is actually his scepter, but the top comes off to reveal a sword._ – Batgirl

The sword hit the ground right next to his head. Nightwing kicked his leg into Hatter's stomach and flipped him over his head. Nightwing then tried to get up on his feet, but Hatter tackled him down.

"How did you?" the words of t he dream were overly crisp and easy to hear.

"I've been working out kid. I also took some martial arts as 'Jared'. Now, stop moving so much." Mad Hatter had Nightwing's right arm free and stabbed a normal knife from his coat into it.

"Ag." Nightwing barely held back his screams. The team watched as Hatter stabbed a third knife into the ground and taunted Nightwing. They felt their anger rise steadily. The team then watched in horror as their good friend was caught on fire and hit with a cat-o-nine.

"The bloody idiot won't get away with this." Wally said. Megan shushed him just in time to hear Hatter's chilling words.

"Well, well, well, guess Batman's pride and joy isn't so great. Tell me, have you ever made the old man mad? Have you ever broken his trust? Have you?" The Mad Hatter ended his question by stabbing another knife into Nightwing. This one had an unusually long blade. The blade went through Nightwing's left shoulder, and pinned him onto a tree. Nightwing growled his response and the team watched as the two talked. They watched as Hatter accused them of not coming in time and punch Nightwing in the face. They saw Hatter get tazered and fall. Then, they saw the first nightmare.

Each team member paled as their fake selves fell. Each time one of them died, they could see Nightwing's agony.

"Oh Nightwing." Megan teared up.

"No wonder he begged us to kill him…" Superboy said gloomily.

"Well, when he awakes, I'll talk to him, and then we will all 'talk' to Mr. Mad Hatter." Batgirl's voice had a dangerous edge to it. The team nodded in agreement, and found themselves back in the med bay.

"While you guys were out, I went over your treatments. You did a very good job: Kaldur, Rocket, and Batgirl." Black Canary smiled sadly at the team. It always hurt when someone got injured, but for some unknown reason, every felt a need to protect Nightwing. Nightwing had this air around him that was so sad, that you just wanted him to do nothing but smile, but he usually was the one to make you smile.

"Tell me when he wakes; I'm going to report to Batman." Batgirl walked out, confidence just rolling off of her.

**Sorry for taking so long to submit this! Life gets busy around this time of year. Hope you all love this! Can I have some ideas for the next story? (This one is wrapping up)**

**Love **

**Burning Bright**


	8. Sweet Dreams

**Chapter 8!**

**(OoO) fat happy panda…**

Nightwing opened his eyes and felt his head pound.

"Oh." He muttered, rubbing his eyes. He sat groggily and looked around him. He saw the dark shadow enter the dark room and sit on eth edge of his bed.

"How are you?" The voice was familiar, sharp, but with underlying tones of affection.

"Um, headache, can't really remember what happened…"

"That's ok. I need to tell you something very important."

"What is it?"

"The League just put of Red Hood's memorial statue, you know, that one in the grotto? Well, since Red Hood was really dis-liked, they put him in as the original Robin. It has his old costume and everything! It's kind of cool."

"Oh, Jason would have thought that to be hilarious."

"Yeah, I think so too. Truthfully, that wasn't the only thing I had to tell you."

"Babs, just spit it out, please?"

"Well, we saw your nightmares."

"What!" Nightwing remembered the horror and shame and the pain of it fell on him like rocks.

"Don't freak out Wing. I wanted to tell you, you have to really trust us. I mean, if you went crazy, we wouldn't just stand there. You have trained us to be vigilant and ready. Wing, we trust you a lot, and while that puts pressure in you, it also means we can take some of your pain and stress away. I'm going to beg you, please, truly forget those nightmares. I need you, I mean we need you!" Nightwing smiled at Batgirl's blunder. Batgirls continued, "Also, if you ever came near me or Robin in a threatening way, I would so kick you ass." Batgirl smiled and in a totally impulsive move, kissed Nightwing's forehead.

"Babs?" Nightwing said, but the girl left the room. "Why you'd go?" Nightwing asked himself. He had wanted her to stay.

Nightwing forced himself up and headed to the kitchen. He felt parched, and scared. He wasn't sure how to face his team. As soon as he entered the living room area, the TV turned on.

"What?" Nightwing asked. He watched as the video played.

He watched Babs suddenly drop down in front of Mad Hatter.

"You killed him!" she screamed, her whole body looked angry and tensed. Tears looked like they were about to break out.

"What? Oh! Your Batty's daughter?" Hatter seemed confused.

"No!"

"Oh, so your' Birdy-Boy's girl?"

"No!" Babs voice cracked. "You murderer!" she charged Hatter, and Hatter ent flying from the punch. Nightwing smiled slightly.

Wally dropped down next.

"You killed my best friend!" He yelled.

"Really? Just your friend? If she ain't his girl then are you?"

"No, dammit! Why does everyone think Wing and I are gay? You will pay for killing him!" Wally charged the stunned man and sent him flying too. Except, this time, Hatter didn't fall.

"Oh?" Hatter looked around, just to see Nightwing right in front of him, floating, and glowing, and really pale.

"Ghost!" Hatter screamed.

"Hatter, I will get my revenge!" Ghost Nightwing's voice was higher than Nightwing's actual voice, but by looking at Hatter's pants, you could tell he was too scared to notice.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Hatter screamed. Trails of fire spun around Hatter (Nightwing could recognize Artemis's arrows.) and a glowing bubble made the whole area glow blue. Nightwing started to laugh.

Nightwing's team members all froze, except for the ghost Nightwing (Megan). Hatter was begging to be spared and so forth. Nightwing actually fell on the ground laughing. Nightwing almost missed the final act.

Robin caem up and Hatter started to cry.

"No! NONONNONONNO! I'm so sorry! Please, Robin, don't kill me! I should have let you live too, um, Robin you were always really nice, SPARE ME!" Nightwing could see how the terrified Hatter thought he was now being attacked by Nightwing's old self. This was helped by the fact that Ghost Nightwing had disappeared. Nightwing could barely hold himself up as he watched Robin kick and punch Hatter. The hits were light, but Hatter was a mess of tears and sniveling mucus by the end.

"Please, please" Hatter cried. Nightwing just laughed and laughed. The bubble disappeared and Hatter looked relieved, except Robin was still there.

"How?" Hatter cried. He looked really funny and pathetic. Robin spoke, with Ghost Nightwing overlaying his voice,

"You are dumb. I don't even look like Nightwing did! But, you are dead you know… Batman doesn't like people to hurt his, what did you call me, his pride and joy?" Hatter cried and begged. The teens left him in eth alley they found him in, and made sure he was picked up by police. The teens were laughing, and so were the cops.

"Man, he was really annoying." Artemis said.

"Good thing I recorded this.' Gar said smiling, and waving into eth camera." Nightwing smiled and sat on the couch.

"Loved the video, should be send it into AFV?" Nightwing asked as his teammates came out.

"Dude, was it really that funny?" Wally asked. Nightwing chuckled.

"Yeah, man I haven't laughed like that in ages! I loved the whole, 'I'm not gay!' part." Nightwing smiled. Wally grunted something like "it's true"

"Anyway, thanks for this guys. I'm sorry I…"

"Can it Wing. We would love to do that again, it was fun!" Rocket said. Nightwing smiled.

"Anyone want to watch it again?" A chorus of yeses came and Nightwing rewinded the video and the watched it again. Some mentors came and they watched it a third time. It was a merry night, almost.

"HAPPY APRIL'S FOOLS' DAY!" Gar yelled, spraying confetti everywhere. The team felt all the Bats stiffen, but Nightwing laughed and said,

"Yeah, I guess I'd better not let myself be outdone by BB." The two got up and ran off to place pranks. Babs and Robin looked after Nightwing with worry.

"Is today the day?" Artemis asked. Kaldur and Superboy, and Rocket looked confused. Babs nodded.

"What's today?" Megan scanned to make sure no one was around and nodded to Babs.

"Well, it isn't really my place to tell you but, Nightwing is an orphan."

"No he isn't, Batman told us a long time ago that Nightwing was his son." Superboy said.

"Well, yeah he is, but not biologically. Arty, how did you know about this?" Batgirl asked. "you too Megan."

"Well, I figured it out after a few years of going to school with him. He had me fooled until just this year."

"How did you find out?"

"He forgot to comb his hair one day coming into school. I only saw the back of him for an instant, but really, no one's hair falls like Nightwing's does." Snickers came around.

"Batman had to tell me one time, it was to save his life. You were unconscious I think.' Megan said. "After that, I Googled him."

"Oh."

"What happened today?"

"Well, Rocket today is…"

"I'm going to tell them Babs. Today is his parents anniversary, and Nightwing's actual birthday, and the anniversary of his parent's death." Tim/Robin said.

"WHAT?!" The surprised yells echoed through the halls of the cave. Babs nodded.

"Yeah, this is always when Nightwing's nightmares get really bad." She said.

"No wonder he was never in school or here around this time…" Artemis trailed off. Everyone nodded. Just then Gar appeared in the door.

"Hey, why were you all yelling? Oh, Nightwing left. Said something about and appointment and stay away from his room, you know the usual. I think the doors are all booby-trapped." Gar informed his team. He watched as Babs flipped out her hone and after a few minutes Nightwing answered.

"What's up?" The phone was on speaker. Batgirl signaled for everyone to be quiet.

"Agent A is still tiding the Batcave, where are you staying het night?"

"Crap, um…"

"Why not at the Cave?"

"Can't I just crash at your place?"

"How do you think my dad would feel about a 17 year old staying at my house?"

"He wouldn't be turbed."

"Yeah, just come here ok? You know, after your appointment." The team could barely hold their snickers when on the other line they heard some lady say,

"Are you sure you want tulips? Those are pricey sir."

"it's ok, they are for someone special."

"Oh, well, that must be some lucky girl!"

"I don't think she was lucky." Nightwing murmured as the team heard bells ring, hinting he had exited t eh store.

"Um, I won't be in until late…"

"it will be fine, Nighwing ,I don't want you crashing at her place."

"Hey, Selina is really nice to me!"

"Yes, Miss Kyle is very nice to young men who are very fit."

"Babs you win ok? I got to go. Bye." Nightwing clicked off.

"Who?" asked Rocket.

"No one important.' Babs answered. "When Nightwing gets here, everyone might want to were ear plugs, or have a lot of hot milk ready." The teens felt their happy mood drop.

Nightwing appeared in the cave wet from the rain just before midnight. He sneaked into his room, his heart heavy. He prayed to not have nightmares. He reached for his sleeping pills, but found the bottle empty.

"Well, this might be problematic…"

"Huh?" a small voice came from Nightwing's bed.

"Gar?"

"Me too!"

"Robin, Gar, why are you in my bed?"

"Well, I had a nightmare, and so did Gar." Neither boy had to say more. Nightwing was there comforting them, he was quite understanding. He didn't say a word as Gar cried about his mom dying, or when Robin reveled his self doubts and worries. Nightwing just shouldered everything until the two boys fell asleep.

"Sweet dreams guys.' Nightwing said, his eyes dropping. But instead of sleeping, he went to the couch to sleep. He fell into a fitful slumber, and his prayers weren't answered.

Nightwing saw himself killing his teammates, his friends, everyone. His nightmare was worse than ever, the colors clearer and sounds sharper. The crunch was just next to his ear, did he really just let them fall? How could he fail? Why were they falling so slowly! Was that Jason? Why was he so bloody? The injury, why didn't he prevent it? He basically killed Jason! He might as well have killed his parents! Tim too!

"No." Nightwing whimpered. Superboy stood over the shaking figure, but he let Wally hug him instead.

"Shh, shh, Nightwing it's over. You know that. Come on. Tim came out of Nightwing's room and came to the couch.

"Wally, Conner, I'll take it from here." Tim said. Nightwing was awake now, shaking and apologizing to everyone, but no one.

"Why, why? I'm so sorry, so, so sorry." Tim waited until Wally and Conner were gone to really comfort Nightwing.

"I should be the sorry one, I knew what today was, but I still came to you with my nightmares… just relax." Tim pulled out afresh bottle of sleeping pills. He dropped one into a glass of warmed milk and honey and gave it to Nightwing. Nightwing drank it, no longer shaking, but looking totally beat.

"I'm sorry Tim. I'm really a failure aren't I"

"Give me two examples of people who watched their parent's die, but didn't react at all." No answer. Tim told Nightwing to just lay down and let sleep take him, but Nightwing still looked scared of sleeping. Tim sighed and squeezed onto the couch and hugged his brother.

"Nightwing, I know you thought you did something horrible," Tim said and Nightwing seemed to shrink away from him, "but, you didn't. Right now, please, just for me." Tim smiled as Nightwing wrapped his arms around his little brother and soon fell asleep.

"Babs, you will really have to go through me if you ever want to sleep with him." Tim said, and the slim shadow in the door laughed but disappeared, first saying,

"You're on."

**Well? This story is done now. **

**Please help me think of ideas for one more! OR is it two? Yeah, two more storied left until I catch up with the time skip. Anyway, if you guys have any ideas, please tell me?**

**Love**

**Burning Bright**


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